Facebook Disappears Legal Problem

Facebook settled a long-running trademark suit from Aaron Greenspan (pictured), the Harvard student whose "Universal Face Book" system predated Facebook and was used heavily by its founder before he publicly branded his own social network. Greenspan is just the latest mess Facebook has tidied up.

Greenspan's suit argues he originated the company's name and that the company's trademark is thus invalid. It's been in court for six months. The company has resolved the case just as it prepares to buy out employees antsy to cash out their shares and as it raises new funding to provide a "buffer" against the economy.

It's especially nice to resolve those sorts of problems if you're going to IPO, as Business Insider notes. And while we're not questioning founder Mark Zuckerberg's sincerity when he says the company won't go public for several years, at this rate we wouldn't be surprised if it happened sooner.